Cleveland State Logistics Students are Thriving

In May, seven students graduated as the first cohort in the recently created Logistics & Supply Chain Management program at Cleveland State Community College. Each student completed an internship as part of the program and received a full-time job by June, a 100% placement rate.

In the program, students used TRIP: the Thrive Regional Infrastructure Portal, an online dashboard or regional transportation data, to complete capstone projects addressing issues facing the companies where they worked.

This unique research tool provides real-world, up to date data about infrastructure systems and various modes of freight transportation in the tri-state greater Chattanooga region, often called the core of "Freight Alley" due to the numerous manufacturing and transportation companies in the area.

Two of America's top freight bottlenecks occur in the greater Chattanooga region, according to the American Transportation Research Institute, making freight movement a top-of-mind challenge for public officials and industry partners.

By aligning the supply chain curriculum with real-world data in TRIP, students can problem-solve around tangible issues that impact the region's economy.

“As this comes to an end, I am happy to say I will leave with knowledge of the TRIP portal. I enjoyed learning how to navigate and use the dashboard; it was fascinating. They have so much relevant data that it can be helpful to navigate the best and safest routes for shipments." — Caleb English, logistics and supply chain management student at CSCC

It is no coincidence that the Cleveland State logistics program uses the TRIP portal as the centerpiece of the capstone course; the entire program is the result of collaboration between nonprofit organizations, industry partners, and higher education institutions.

In 2021, Thrive Regional Partnership (Thrive), a nonprofit community development organization serving 16 counties in northwest Georgia, northeast Alabama, and southeast Tennessee, solicited proposals to create a new transportation research portal, giving industry and government officials a valuable tool to address the region’s infrastructure and shipping issues.

Two higher education institutions competed for the project — Georgia Institute of Technology and Cleveland State Community College.  

After reviewing the proposals, the leadership at Thrive  awarded the project jointly to Georgia Tech and Cleveland State, with the goal of simultaneously creating the TRIP portal and a curriculum where students at Cleveland State are exposed to current technologies and use them to solve current issues faced by industry.

Four years later, students at Cleveland State are benefiting from this unique partnership, being exposed to a state-of-the-art curriculum while gaining valuable skills and solving real-world problems.

The collaboration between Thrive and Cleveland State is not finished; instead, it is just beginning. With funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission, the organizations will be working together over the next five years to expand the curriculum and TRIP portal to other colleges and secondary schools throughout the region.

To inquire about the Cleveland State logistics & supply chain management curriculum, email Dean Sandra Godsey at sgodsey@clevelandstatecc.edu.

This article was originally published in the Cleveland Daily Banner on July 16, 2025.

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